In our social and economic relationships we must always deal with the dichotomy of whatever is good now and with whatever is good for our future; however, in our present social choices we should always abide by the principle of not jeopardizing our future. Also, and very importantly, our social living should thrive in a democratic environment where we can express responsibly our freedoms.

Something very bad is happening in our society, and this something bad is the erosion of our democracy brought by the social supremacy of the big corporations. Since money is power, and the corporations' economic purpose is to make money with money, the corporations have acquired in our society a role more important than people. As a consequence, what was at one time a good or a service to satisfy our needs is now a good or a service to satisfy our wants; and keep in mind that these wants of ours are created in the economic and social setting where corporations make money with money.

Therefore, without our own knowing, we buy goods and services created by corporations and these goods and services are pushed through public relations and advertising in the so called Free Market. In a social and economic environment where money is power, the corporations have the interest to make money with money and therefore they don't have the long term interest of people to have a better life.

This underlining behaviour of corporations is best exemplified by the recent collapse of the gigantic Enron corporation where in a span of six weeks the value of the corporation's stock tumbled to nothing. With the deregulation of the energy market and with the assistance of the Bush family, the Enron's top owners were able to make millions and millions of dollars at the expense of people. Enron's top owners and executives cooked their books and gave themselves million dollar bonuses just few days before the corporation declared bankruptcy and put thousands of employees out of work.

In a social and economic setting where corporations rule our lives, democracy becomes decadent, governments work for the corporations, the gap between the rich and the poor widens, more corporate and religious sponsored charitable organizations are needed to attend for the poor, and more corporate and governmental experts are needed as people either cannot think for themselves or have become alienated and disenfranchised.

References

Pertinent articles published in Ensign

Multinational Bankrupt Enron: an example of colonization, greed, fraud, corruption, and gambling, by Mario deSantis, November 30, 2001

Enron Paid Out 'Retention' Bonuses Before Bankruptcy Filing, by Richard A. Oppel Jr. and Kurt Eichenwald, December 6, 2001, The New York Times